


Life Will Find a Way, Even After Four Years on a Dinosaur Island

by RockyPond



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jurassic World Sequel Rewrite, Zach is dead, but not actually dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-04-07 21:05:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14089650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockyPond/pseuds/RockyPond
Summary: So here he was, stepping foot on the island that four years ago claimed his brother’s and hundreds of others’ lives.He and the others in the mission stood in awe when they saw the island again and the dinosaurs existing outside of their cages.However the awe quickly gave way to shock when he was suddenly forced onto the ground by someone holding a shotgun. Gray squinted up at the figure, but it was only when they shifted slightly and covered the Sun that Gray could see who it really was.“Zach?”—Four years ago Zach Mitchell died during the Incident on Isla Nublar, however Gray and his family never got the comfort of having a body to bury.Now in the present, Gray joins a group of people who are trying to save the dinosaurs on the island from the volcanic eruption which is due any day now, although he has a bigger objective.Gray wants to find something of his brother’s for closure, instead he finds something so much more important.His brother, alive.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been four years since Gray’s brother had died. Died alone, on an island filled with dinosaurs, somewhere in the forest.   
Memories of that night still filled Gray’s mind, he remembered his brother getting tossed aside by a stray tail during the T-Rex and Indominus Rex fight, landing in the gap between two buildings. Gray and the others had been unable to run and check on him due to the dinosaur fight still going on. When they were finally able to break away, after the Indominus was drowned by the mosasaur, they ran to where he had been thrown only to find nothing but some blood and some dinosaur tracks.  
The official theory was that Zach had been knocked unconscious by the throw and had been dragged off by a dinosaur to be killed and well, eaten.  
That last part was never explicitly said to Gray but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew Zach hadn’t been spared such an awful fate.   
Still, he couldn’t help but wish that maybe that hadn’t happened. That Zach had been able to be reunited with their parents, had been hugged by them again.  
Instead Gray had watched his parents’ faces as they realised Zach was truly gone. He had been expecting the grief but there was something hiding in there, something like relief.  
It was then he had realised that his parents were glad Gray had been the one to survive. They obviously were devastated Zach was dead but they both would prefer Zach was dead over Gray, even if they never said it aloud.   
But it was clear in their actions, in their words and tone, in the fact that they never did get divorced.  
It was almost like Zach dying had fixed their problems.  
Gray would take his parents being divorced and never talking to each other ever again over his brother being dead.  
But that wasn’t the way it worked. Instead Gray had celebrated Zach’s 20th birthday alone, because his parents seemed to have forgotten the day even existed.  
Gray was 16 and had grown bitter and accustomed to hating his parents. He had never understood how Zach could hate such loving people so easily before but now he truly did.   
When his Aunt Claire stated that the Island’s volcano was about to erupt and a rescue mission for the dinosaurs was being launched, he had wanted to join in. Sure, it was unlikely he’d even find Zach’s body but he just wanted something to remember his brother by.   
So here he was, stepping foot on the island that four years ago claimed his brother’s and hundreds of others’ lives.  
He and the others in the mission stood in awe when they saw the island again and the dinosaurs existing outside of their cages.  
However the awe quickly gave way to shock when he was suddenly forced onto the ground by someone holding a shotgun. Gray squinted up at the figure, but it was only when they shifted slightly and covered the Sun that Gray could see who it really was.   
“Zach?”


	2. Chapter 2

Zach hadn’t been expecting to see his brother again when he woke up this morning.   
Then again he hadn’t been expecting a random group of humans to come to the island. Not after four years.   
Today was unusual to say the least.   
Zach had seen the group enter the main area and had been unsure what to do. So he knocked the closest one to the ground with his shotgun. Not his best course of action but hey, he hadn’t had any human contact in four years.   
When he knocked the person down he noticed he was more a boy than a man. He also looked familiar, in the kind of way where you can place something in their eyes, the shape of their face, maybe in their frown. Whatever it was, he couldn’t place it. That is until the boy spoke up.  
“Zach?”  
And suddenly Zach figured it out. It was Gray. Gray his little brother, suddenly all grown up. He realised with a start Gray must be the same age as he was when he got left here and that sits uncomfortably in his stomach.  
He chooses not to think on that feeling, instead he looks at a face he never thought he’d see again.  
The air around him seems to stand still. The sounds he’d grown used to suddenly stop. There was nothing but him and his brother, staring at each other, still as corpses.  
Gray breaks the stillness first, of course he does. He stands up and Zach lowers the gun he realised he was still pointing in his face.   
Zach still can’t quite breathe, he knows he’s frozen in shock; he feels numb all over.  
Suddenly Gray launches himself at him. Ignores the gun and just wraps his arms around his brother. Zach still can’t quite understand but he lets go of the gun with one hand, wraps that arm around Gray, the other arm holding the gun at his side limply.  
Zach closes his eyes, breathes in deep, lets the past four years wash away as he hugs his brother.  
He’s taller than he remembers. Which makes sense, since it’s been four years and probably two growth spurts since Zach last saw Gray.  
He realises that they are sinking to the ground, he feels dampness spread on his shoulder and knows Gray is crying. He should be crying too but nothing seems to come out. He hasn’t cried in years.  
Instead Zach squeezes tighter. Once they are on the ground enough that Zach can lay the gun down he does. Then he is holding Gray in both of his arms.  
He hears soft crying in front of him, opens his eyes, sees his Aunt Claire staring at him in shock, tears streaming down her face. Owen is standing next to her, looking as strong as ever.  
There are others, behind them, looking on confused but Zach ignores them, they aren’t important, no one is important expect Gray.  
Gray suddenly pushes away, holding Zach at arms length, his eyes scanning his face.  
Zach doesn’t know what to say so he starts small.  
“Hi.”  
And Gray starts crying even harder and Zach notices tears forming in his own eyes and that’s a first.   
“Hey.” Gray says through his crying, a wet sound that unleashes the tears in Zach’s eyes.  
They both seem to realise they should probably stand and they make their way up, refusing to let go of each other no matter how much harder it makes it.  
It seems the spell have broken for Claire as she runs her way over, despite the short distance. She stops short of Zach and then wraps her arms around him. He lets go of Gray, to hug her back, although Gray still keeps a hand on his arm, as if thinking he would disappear if he doesn’t.  
Suddenly Gray gasps beside him and Zach looks over. He’s crying again, this time in anguish. “You were alive. You were alive and we left you, we left you here, we stranded you. Oh my god, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.” Gray bursts into apologies and Zach grabs onto him.   
“It’s okay, it’s okay, you had no way of knowing. You couldn’t have known I was alive okay? It’s okay.”  
Claire seems to think about this, her eyes scanning the ground before looking at her eldest nephew. “How are you alive?”  
Zach makes eye contact with her and he thinks about the best way to explain it, explain everything he’s been through. He’s not sure where to start.


	3. Chapter 3

Zach had woken up with a triceratops looking down at him. It wasn’t an adult but it also wasn’t a baby. He figured out later that the dinosaur had escaped its broken cage during the afternoon of hell and had wandered into the main area of the park.   
It had seemingly found him, knocked aside and unconscious and decided to drag him away. Why it had decided that, Zach had never been able to figure out, but he was thankful.   
After realising everyone had abandoned the island, Zach had despaired. He was alone on an island swarming with dinosaurs and he discovered pretty earlier on that reception and power had been cut straight away.  
So Zach had started exploring the park, figuring out how he could survive. He mostly stuck to the main visitor’s area.  
He made quick use of the main hotel, breaking into rooms and looking through people’s luggage. It made him feel a bit weird but ultimately he needed supplies and it wasn’t like the people would be back for it. He began to designate all the rooms on the second floor to supply rooms. One room held all the books he had found, of which there were plenty. Another room held all of the food he had looted from the hotel rooms and restaurants and cafes. Another held water bottles, Zach’s most important room until he found safe running water three months in, although he still preferred the water bottles where possible. He also had rooms for clothes, batteries he had found in all of the room’s tv remotes and other appliances, guns and ammo, and all the other rooms were filled with suitcases and other miscellaneous objects.   
He often slept in rooms on the other floors, rotating between rooms whenever he wanted. He read books mostly to pass the time when he wasn’t busy exploring or preparing food.  
He had made sure to block off the entrance to the hotel, his main base of operations and had begun constructing fences around the main area to protect against dinosaurs. It would do little in the case of a T-Rex attack but so far none had come and the other dinosaurs had been subdued.  
Zach did find that he had begun to befriend the dinosaurs, training them to be calm towards him and provide him with some comfort. He had never had a pet before and now he had an island full of previously extinct ones.  
Some dinosaurs were not so friendly and Zach had become accustomed to sending off warning shots, using tranquillisers and even bullets when needed.  
Altogether Zach had an okay existence, considering he was on a dinosaur island. His experience was made better by the more friendly dinosaurs and he even began to train some of the more aggressive ones to tolerate him.  
His biggest achievement was Blue, who he had developed an almost partnership with in his second year. He would give allow Blue to wander around his closed off section of the park and in return Blue would bring him some meat from other parts of the park.   
It certainly beat rereading the same books.  
Zach’s life fell into a rhythm. Wake up, go downstairs and eat from one of the many, many non-perishable food supplies he had, read some of one of his books, check on his fences for any tears, let Blue and watch her run around in circles for a little while before releasing her again, cook the meat Blue had brought him and eat it, read more of the book, go to sleep, repeat.  
Zach was bored with his life but at least he was alive. He felt that he couldn’t complain because he was not one of the many casualties of the island.   
However Zach’s typical routine had been broken up by his brother and the others showing up and he couldn’t be happier.  
He would finally be free from this hell hole.


End file.
